PHILADELPHIA – You would have thought that the day Ben Revere, at long last, hit the first home run of his major-league career, the Phillies would be piling up runs, solving global warming, developing time travel, and performing any other feat that ventured into the realm of the absurd.

But no. It came in a mundane, mid-week loss, in front of a smattering of fans kept away in part by a rain delay.

A pitchers’ duel between Cole Hamels and Jorge De La Rosa came to an end when Willin Rosario drove a three-run, opposite-field home run just over the right-field wall in the top of the seventh as the Rockies spoiled Revere’s moment of trotting bliss.

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Revere’s homer came in the 1,566th plate appearance of his career. He was climbing the list of position players with homerless careers, having left Tim Johnson – the only post-World War II player with more than 1,400 plate appearances and zero homers – in the dust.

Alas, Boone Logan had to come along and throw Revere a fat, friendly inside fastball that he turned on, getting it nearly to the second row. It came after Rosario’s homer snapped a 1-1 tie and got the Phillies within 4-2. It also got the Phillies’ dugout in prankster mode, as the players colluded to ice Revere and act as if nothing happened. Finally, after a few sad attempts at fist bumps, his teammates crowded the flyweight centerfielder.

If only it meant the rest of the team would become inspired. Instead, Colorado go out of that inning, then scored two more runs in the top of the eighth. The inning got going on a Josh Rutledge triple, although in reality it was John Mayberry Jr. making a comically hideous attempt at catching the ball as he leapt against the left-field fence and saw it hit the wall at about knee height. Drew Stubbs followed with a truly legitimate double off reliever Jeff Manship, and the Rockies were making certain Revere wouldn’t lead a rally with his stunning show of power.

Before it unraveled late, Hamels had a stellar performance going, allowing a pair of fourth-inning singles that led to one run and cruising into the seventh before he walked Corey Dickerson and Michael Cuddyer to set up Rosario’s fifth homer of the season.

Darin Ruf, who started at first base for Ryan Howard against the southpaw De La Rosa, hit his first homer of 2014 for the Phils in the bottom of the fourth to tie it, as the slugger might give manager Ryne Sandberg reason to consider playing him both at first base and left field more often to give Howard a rest against lefties and to send a message to Domonic Brown, who followed his All-Star 2013 by hitting .206 with three homers as May nears an end.